Did you know you can get cheap car rentals for $5 a day? Yep, for less than the price of a Starbucks, you can get rent a car. You can take your bucket list road trip for less with cheap daily car rentals. Whether you’re renting for a week or just need a cheap one day car rental, here’s how to get a $5 car rental.
This is an easy travel hack that anyone can do and is available from all the major car rental companies. It doesn’t require using a specific credit card or having elite status with car rental company. Special tricks or discount codes aren’t required to get the cheapest car rental per day.
How to Get a Rental Car for $5 a day
When you think of car rental deals, most people think Black Friday and the day after Christmas. Often you can a good travel deal during a Cyber Monday sale. You can score a $10 a day car rental.
But the best travel deals for cheap car rentals are in the spring and fall. Because that’s when the car rental companies are flush with rental cars.
All the snowbirds flock to Florida and Arizona for the winter. In the spring and fall, the car rental lots have too many cars. So they pass on the savings to you in the form of cheap car rentals. And when I say cheap, I’m talking $5 a day.
Twice a year, from April to June and from September to October you can get a car rental in the USA for $4.95 a day. You don’t need any car rental coupons or discount codes. And you can even rent cars any day of the week including on the weekend!
The catch? You have to rent a one-way car rental. But wait, it’s okay because these one-way car rentals are cheap. Unlike some one-way rentals, there’s no drop-off charge.
Pro-tip: You get free auto rental CDW collison damage waiver protection when you reserve and pay with a card that offers rental car insurance like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card.
One-Way Car Rentals
When I’m in Florida I’m renting a car for a day to visit my friend, Ray. Then I have to get from Florida to North Carolina. One-way flights start at $115.
But I can get a one-way cheap car rental for $5 a day. I love flying but this is a no-brainer, why fly when I can get a car rental for under $10 a day? I’m driving from Florida to North Carolina. And you can too!
What to Know About One-Way Rentals
Unlimited Miles
Some rental car companies charge for miles on one-way rentals. So be sure to check the fine print. Look for the deal that includes unlimited miles.
Taxes and Fees
You’ll pay higher taxes and fees if you rent from the airport. Taxes are less on car rentals from off-airport locations such as hotels and downtown locations.
Deals on Cheap Car Rentals
Expedia
You can quickly check all the cheap car rental offers on Expedia. Or you can see all the one-way deals below.
Alamo
Alamo offers one-way rentals from Florida from $4.95 a day:
- Return to participating Alamo locations in the Continental US outside of Florida
- 1 day minimum to 21 days maximum rental
- Valid on economy through Full-size cars
SUV rentals for $19.95 a day and minivan rentals for $24.95 a day are also available.
Book your one-way car rental from Alamo on Expedia.
Avis & Budget
At Avis & Budget you can get an $8 car rental. You can rent cars from Avis for $7.95 a day from Arizona and Florida. Budget charges $7.89 a day from Arizona and Florida.
Phoenix rentals can be returned to:
- Albuquerque
- California (participating locations)
- Las Vegas
- Portland
- Salt Lake City
- Seattle
If renting from Florida, you can drop off in over 40 cities such as Albuquerque, Boston, Chicago, New York, and Seattle. Check out the complete list of drop off locations.
Rent a cheap one-way car rental from Avis & Budget. Book a cheap one-way car rental from Avis and Budget on Expedia.
Dollar
Dollar is offering $4.99 a day cheap car rentals from Arizona and Florida:
- Valid on rentals of economy to full-size cars
- 14-day maximum rental period
- Reservation required (24 hours in advance)
You can pick up a one-way cheap car rental from Phoenix and Tucson and drop it off in 25 cities like Austin, Billings, Denver, Las Vegas, and San Diego. Here is a complete list of the Arizona drop off locations.
Participating pick-up locations in Florida:
- Fort Lauderdale
- Fort Myers
- Jacksonville
- Key West
- Miami
- Orlando
- Sarasota
- Tallahassee
- Tampa
- West Palm Beach
There are 37 drop off locations for Florida one-way car rentals including Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Nashville, and New York. Check out all the cities where you can return your rental car.
Book your cheap one-way car rental from Dollar on Expedia.
Enterprise
You can rent a car from Enterprise for $4.95 a day from Florida.
Here’s the deal:
- Valid on one-way rentals from Florida to participating Enterprise locations in the US (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) outside of Florida.
- 1 day minimum to 21 days maximum rental
- $4.95 price applies to economy through Full-size cars
- Some locations may charge less than $4.95 a day
If you need a larger vehicle, Enterprise has discounts on SUV rentals ($19.95 a day) and minivan rentals ($24.95 a day).
Reserve your rental car from Enterprise. Rent from Expedia.
Hertz
Hertz offers cheap car rentals during the spring. But their deal isn’t as cheap as the other rental car companies.
One-way car rentals from Hertz in Arizona and Florida start at $7.99 a day:
- Valid on economy through full-size cars
- 14-day maximum rental
You can pick up your rental car from Phoenix and Tucson and return it one of 25 cities including Burbank, Houston, Los Angeles, and San Antonio. You can see the complete list of car rental drop off locations.
Renting in Florida? Pick up a cheap car rental in:
- Fort Lauderdale
- Fort Myers
- Jacksonville
- Key West
- Miami
- Orlando
- Sarasota
- Tallahassee
- Tampa
- West Palm Beach
Return the rental car to one of 37 cities like Buffalo, Cincinnati, Memphis or Washington, DC. Here are all the cities where you can return your cheap car rental.
Book a cheap rental from Hertz. Reserve a one-way car rental with Hertz on Expedia.
Thrifty
You can book a one-way rental from Thrifty locations in Arizona and Florida for $4.99 a day:
- 14-day maximum rental period
- Discount valid on economy through full-size cars
- Reservation required (24 hours in advance)
Thrifty is partners with Dollar so all pickup and drop off locations for Arizona and Florida rentals are the same. Except, one-way cheap car rentals from $4.99 are only offered from Tucson.
Book your cheap one-way car rental from Thrifty on Expedia.
Conclusion
You can get cheap car rentals for less than $5 a day. That road trip you’ve been planning, start packing your bags.
All the major rental car companies offer deeply discounted rates on rental cars during the fall and spring, specifically April to June and September to October. These prices are valid for one-way rentals from Arizona and Florida with drop-offs to locations outside of Arizona and Florida.
When renting one-way cars, make sure the deal includes unlimited miles. Or any savings on the car rental will be eaten up by the mileage charge. You’ll save a lot of money on taxes and fees by renting from off-airport locations such as hotels and downtown offices.
Silvercar doesn’t offer $5 a day rentals but if you use discount codes you get a car rental for less than $50 a day.
Book a $5 rental car from Avis, Enterprise, and Hertz. Or book these cheap car rental deals on Expedia.
Remember to reserve and pay for your car rental with your Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card to get free auto rental CDW collision damage waiver protection.
This will be the first time I’ve booked one of these seasonal car rental deals. I haven’t done a road trip in years so I’m kinda excited.
What was your favorite road trip?
Tips to Save Money on Travel
Read these posts on tips to save money on travel.
- How to Get a Trip to Hawaii for Free
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- The Ultimate Guide on How to Get a Free Hotel Upgrade
- How to Fly Free for Two Years
- Tricks to Save Money on Airline Tickets
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Mindy Gordon
Tuesday 28th of May 2019
I haven’t seen anything for less that $16 a day in my area (Huntsville, Al.) how can I get this price? Everything is so expensive here! If you know what I can do to find this deal please let me know! Thank you! I have checked one way online but everything is super expensive and there’s an extra charge for the one-way so I don’t know how you found the five dollars but I would love if I could find it here in Huntsville as well!
Debra Schroeder
Saturday 1st of June 2019
Hi Mindy,
You can get a $5 rental car from April to June and September to October. You have to rent a one-way rental from Arizona and Florida and drop them off in certain cities outside of Arizona and Florida (each car rental company has a list of cities). Hope that helps.
Vicky and Buddy
Tuesday 4th of April 2017
I had no idea that the time to rent a car was in the spring! I always thought they'd be charging more for Spring Break.That's really good to know. I'm gonna try and figure out where I can take a weekend drive to now! lol
Trisha Velarmino
Tuesday 4th of April 2017
I love walking especially if it only takes me about 45 minutes to reach my destination, but this piece is greatly appreciated! I'll try this out when I get to come back in America! Xx
Holly
Monday 3rd of April 2017
I had no idea, but this is some awesome information. I will have to look into this myself. Thank you for the info.
Rhonda Albom
Sunday 2nd of April 2017
Cars may be cheap but for us, as international travellers to the USA, we have insurance issues. In New Zealand, we insure our cars, not our drivers. Therefore there is now insurance when we leave the country. There are still plenty of great tips here. Especially for us as my dad lives in Arizona and my MIL is in Florida.